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(No Model.)

B. M.fGANNON. HOOK FOR SPQON HANDLES.

No. 574,145. Patented-M019, 1896.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT M. GANNON, OF SAN FELIPE, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO BENJAMIN F. DAVIS, OF SAME PLACE.

HOOK FOR SPOQN-HANDLES.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,145, dated December 29, 1896. Application filed April 28, 1896. Serial No. 589,409. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ROBERT M. GANNON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Felipe, in the county of Austin and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hooks for Spoon-Handles and the Like, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in detachable hooks for spoonhandles and the like, and has for its object to provide a device of this description which may be attached to the handle of any spoon or similar article and when in place will serve to hold said spoon against slipping within the vessel in which it is placed, and a hook made in accordance with my improvement may also be readily removed from the spoon-handle when it is desired to wash said spoon.

With these ends in view my invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, and then specifically designated by the claim.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same, I will describe its construction and operation in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a section of a receptacle, showing a spoon supported by the side thereof and illustrating the application of my improvement to said spoon and the method of supporting the spoon thereby; Fig. 2, a rear view of a spoon having my improvement applied thereto 3 Fig. 3, a detail of the upper end of the spoon-handle. looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 2, showing the clamps by which my improvement is attached to said handle; Fig. 4., a detailed perspective of my improvement when detached from a handle, and Fig. 5 a cross-section at the line m as of Fig. 3.

In carrying out my invention I take a single length of wire and so bend it as to produce a loop A, the sides of which are crossed at B, and a coil 0, so arranged as to give a spring action to the ends of the wire. Near the outer ends of the wire are formed the clamps D by bending the wire outward and inward, as at E and F, and these clamps are adapted to fit over the edges of the spoon-handle and be held in contact therewith by the resiliency of the coil 0. Thus it will be seen that the hook may be attached to a handle by distending the clamps sufficiently to pass over the edges of said handle and then permit them to spring together, as before described, and when a spoon or other article is thus supplied with my improved hook it may be placed in a receptacle of any shape or design and supported therein, so as not to slip and fall bodily to the bottom of such receptacle, by the engagement of the hook with the upper edge of said receptacle, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. WVhen it is necessary to cleanse by washing or for other purposes, the hook may be removed from the handle by the reverse movement required to attach it thereto.

While my improved hook is adapted for attachment to the handle of any spoon, in prac tice I have found that a spoon having a bead, as at G, which in cross-section is concavoconvex, is best adapted for the attachment thereto of the hook, as the clamps of said hook may be forced into contact with this bead in such manner as to lock them thereon and effectually prevent accidental removal of the hook. This is accomplished by springing the clamps into engagement with the edges of the spoon-handle below the beads and then force said clamps longitudinal of the handle toward the end thereof, so as to cause them to slide into engagement with said beads, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5. It is to be noted that a similar result would take place upon a spoon having a bead which in cross-section was not concave upon the under side, as the upper edges of the clamp would engage with this. bead and effect the desired result.

I am aware that hooks have been used for supporting spoons upon the edges of a recep= tacle into which they were placed, but as they have usually been formed with the handle of the spoon said handle is not only weakened, 95 but considerable difficulty is experienced in properly cleansing said spoon, as the hook be comes an obstruction thereto, and I therefore do not wish to be understood as laying claim, broadly, to a hook.

What I claim as new and useful is=- A hook for spoon=handles formed of a single piece of wire coiled centrally and the arms so formed being crossed, clamps formed n earthe ends of the arms by bending the wire out-ward and inward forming a loop in the wire at right angles to the plane of the arms, said wire being then bent longitudinally and then on tward and inward again forming a loop similar to the one first formed, the clamps thus formed being bent at an angle to the plane of the arms, in combination with a spoon having a head on one side and a groove on the other running parallel with the edge of the spoon, said loops 1 of the holder being bent on one side to conform to the shape of the bead and on the other to engage the loop, and the lower end of the arms being bent toward the spoon to engage the glass as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT M. GANNON. Witnesses:

J. H. BRAMLEE, S. S. WILLIAMsON. 

